Iran's President to Visit Iraq on First Foreign Trip

Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran's new president on July 30 - AFP
Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran's new president on July 30 - AFP
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Iran's President to Visit Iraq on First Foreign Trip

Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran's new president on July 30 - AFP
Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran's new president on July 30 - AFP

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit Iraq on Wednesday, state media reported Sunday, in what will be his first trip abroad since he took office in July, AFP reported.

Pezeshkian will head a high-ranking Iranians delegation to Baghdad to meet senior Iraqi officials.

The visit comes at the invitation of Iraq's premier, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the official IRNA news agency quoted Iran's ambassador to Baghdad Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh as saying.

The two countries will sign memoranda of understanding on cooperation and security, Sadegh said, without elaborating.

He said the agreements were to have been signed during a planned visit to Iraq by Iran's late president, Ebrahim Raisi.

But Raisi was killed in May along with the then foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, when their helicopter crashed on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.

Since taking office, Pezeshkian has vowed to "prioritize" strengthening ties with the Iran's neighbours.

Tehran is one of Iraq's leading trade partners, and wields considerable political influence in Baghdad where its Iraqi allies dominate parliament and the current government.

In March 2023 the two countries signed a security agreement covering their common border, months after Tehran struck Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq's north.



Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Overnight Air Attacks on Border Regions

 A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)
A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Overnight Air Attacks on Border Regions

 A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)
A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukraine and Russia accused each other of overnight air attacks on their border regions, with Ukrainian officials saying that two people died and four were injured in the Sumy region, and Russia saying three civilians were injured in Belgorod.

Two children were among those injured in Sumy, the military administration of the northeastern Ukrainian region said on Sunday on the Telegram messaging app. Several residential houses and cars were damaged, it said.

Across the border, in Russia's southwestern region of Belgorod, three civilians, including two children were injured in Ukraine's air attack, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region, said on Telegram.

He said two residential buildings were destroyed and more than 15 buildings in total were damaged.

The Russian defense ministry said on Telegram that it destroyed two Ukraine-launched drones over Belgorod overnight.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Both Sumy and Belgorod regions have been subject to frequent attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians, saying the attacks are aimed at destroying each other's infrastructure critical to war efforts.

Thousands of civilians have died in the war, which Russia started with full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. Millions of Ukrainians have also been displaced, while their cities and villages have become piles of rubble.